Printing plate



March 19, 1940.

Filed May 17, 1939 JOHN DOE CHICAGO fizz/672587".

. areprovided with rectangular notches in oppo- Patented Mar. 19, 1940 UNITED stares ea'rsur OFFICE This invention relates to printing or address plates and the like and, among other objects, aims to provide an improved address plateor the like which will function more effectively 'in addressing machines.

The invention may be readily understood by reference'to one illustrative embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawing.

In said drawing:

proved address plate, and

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic View of a portionof the discharge mechanism of a machine to 1 illustrate the functioning of the improved plate.

The invention is here embodied in a so-called Speedaumat type of printing or address plate. Plates of this type are fed successively through machines which imprint the data carried thereon on mailing matter, records, etc. Generally the plates are carried in stacked condition in a magazine or galley in the machine, automatically fed-'one by one from the bottom of the stack to printing position and then discharged one by one into a discharge magazine or galley. One

5 v form of such machine is shown in Johnson Patent No. 1,737,721. To hold the plates in such stacked position in the magazines, the former site side edges -(for example as shown in Tomlinson Patent No. 1,151,501) into which project sheet metal guide ribs or gibs on the magazines. The latter guide the plates as they are introduced into the magazine and hold them in stacked condition.

For many years, difiiculty has been experienced in the use of platesof this type in automatic machines. The plates, and particularly the sharp corners of the notches, have become bent, thereby interfering with the feeding and the imprinting of the plates and tearing or damaging the inking ribbon. Despite the fact that this difficulty has persisted for many years, it was not until the present development that the cause of the difficulty and its remedy were discovered. 7

Address plates of this type must be made of relatively soft and ductile metal to permit formation of clear and sharp printing characters thereof. It has been possible to reinforce the iongitudinal edges of the plate by heading the same and forming therein reinforcing ribs adjacent to the beads. It has not been possible, however, to reinforce in thisjfashion the plate edges (those containing the guide notches) lying transverse to the direction in which the plates are fed to Fig. l is a plan view of one form of theim printing position. I have found that when discharged by the machine by the discharge magazine, the plates do not always nest or register exactly. Frequently a substantial number of plates becomes interlocked out of register and are prevented from sliding into registry by the obstruction afforded by the type and reinforcing ribs. lhe result has been that the notches are forcibly held out of register, one notch engaging the outer surface of the gilo and another its inner surface and so on until the gib is gripped by the collective plates so firmly that the plates cannot slide along, the gibs further into the magazine.

This is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 2.

As there shown, the plates H) are fed laterally in abutting relationship in the direction of the arrow until they reach. reciprocating plunger H which forces them downwardly one by one into the discharge magazine or galley [2. The latter extends downwardly and its intermediate portion is curved so that its terminal portion will extend in a generally horizontal direction. In a galley of this character, jamming of the plates occurs frequently at the curved portion of the galley as here illustrated. A group of plates in the lower portion of the stack have become sufficiently out of register (and have been so held by the pressure of superposed plates) to grip the magazine gibs l3 and present a substantial resistance to travel of the plates farther along in the magazine.

When the magazine is thus blocked, operation of the plunger ll to force additional plates into the galley causes bending of the plates and. particularly bending of outer corners of the notches which are in actual contact with the gibs of the magazine. The corners, being unsupported and incapable of reinforcement, bend most readily. Moreover, being'sharp and biting into the gibs, they offer the greatest resistance to movement and therefore are subjected to the greatest bending forces. These distorted corners are generally not visible when the plates are in the magazine and only come to attention when they cause tearing of the ribbon or jamming of the plates in the machine. In the latter event, several additional plates are usually damaged.

I have found that another cause of bent corners is lack of substantial alignment of the gibs of the storage galley with the gibs l3 of the discharge magazine of the machine. The gibs of the former are of sheet metal and frequently become bent, particularly at their exposed ends which abut those of'the raceway. Hence substantial alignment of the gibs is frequently not possible and when the plate is forced by the discharge plunger from the machine raceway into the magazine, the corners of the notches are usually bent.

Because of the softness of the metal, the aforesaid corners also become bent when the plates are handled in the storage or filing magazines. In order to insert or withdraw specific plates from the magazine, it is necessary to separate the column of plates at the particular plate. Due to nesting or the plates out of alignment, as explained above, and their consequent gripping of the gibs, the force necessary to separate the plates along the magazine is often sufiicient to bend the corners. The corners also become bent if they are not carefully inserted and removed from the magazine.

Contrary to previous beliefs, I have discovered that the corners of the notches are not essential to efiicient guiding of the plates. I have found that the plates are satisfactorily guided along the magazine gibs by the surface adjacent the base of the notches. In the improved plate M, the extremities of the notches l5 are rounded as at E6 or otherwise formed to eliminate sharp corners. With the source of weakness as Well as high frictional resistance removed, the plates slide readily on the gibs and offer so little frictional resistance that plates out of alignment cannot grip the magazine gibs so tigh ly as to offer excessive resistance to further movement into the magazine. Furthermore with the sharp corners of the notches eliminated, ordinary variations in alignment in the storage and discharge magazine gibs cannot cause bending or distortion of the plates.

Rounding of the corners not only facilitates insertion and removal of individual plates in the filing magazines but greatly minimizes bending of the plates in this operation.

The sharp corners of the notches may be removed either by substantially rounding the corners or by simply ed the corners. On the Speedaumat type I have found that ample metal is removed to avoid catching of the notches if the corner be rounded on a radius.

Obviously the invention is not limited to the details of the illustrative embodiment thereof herein described since these may be variously modified. Moreover it is not indispensable that all features of the invention be used conjointly since various features may be embodied in different combinations and sub-combinations.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A printing plate of the character described comprising a rectangular sheet of relatively soft embossable metal having along opposite side edges offset guiding means engageable with guiding devices in magazines and the like, said offset means having rounded corners to minimize friction in the magazines.

2. A printing plate of the character described comprising a rectangular sheet of relatively soft einbossable metal reinforced along top and bottom edges and having its side edges formed with an offset contour engageable with guideways in magazines and the like, the outer portions of said offset contours being rounded to minimize friction with said guideways.

A printing plate of the character described comprising a rectangular sheet of relatively soft embossable metal having its opposite side edges notched to provide guiding means for engagement with g in ways in magazines and the like, the under DGltlCl'l of said notches being rounded to minimize friction with said guideways.

A. printing plate of the character described comprising a rectangular sheet of relatively soft embossable metal reinforced along top and bottom edges and having its opposite side edge formed With generally rectangular notches whose exterior angles are rounded.

5. A printing plate of the character described comprising a rectangular sheet of relatively soft embossable metal reinforced along top and bottom edges and having generally rectangular notches in its opposite side edges to embrace guiding flanges in magazines and the like, said notches having their outer corners rounded.

ALBERT W. BAUER. 

